{"id":249,"date":"2025-03-15T19:39:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T19:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/markorwoll.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2025-03-18T15:24:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T15:24:58","slug":"pleasantvilles-mark-orwoll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markorwoll.com\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"An interview with Mark Orwoll about his new travel memoir,\u00a0Just One Little Hitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Author Mark Orwoll holds a copy of his new travel memoir, “Just One Little Hitch,” during an interview with the Examiner News at Soul Brewing in Pleasantville, NY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Adam Stone, the Examiner News, March 14, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stopped by Soul Brewing Company<\/strong><\/a> in Pleasantville last night to grab a pint with Mark Orwoll, a veteran journalist and author who has published a new memoir, Just One Little Hitch,<\/em> detailing his hitchhiking adventures across Europe and Morocco in the 1970s.
 
Orwoll brought along a copy of the book, and although our meeting was supposed to be a social outing, I couldn\u2019t resist breaking out my tape recorder for the last 20 minutes of our time together.
 
\u201cThis book was written after about 50 years, almost 50 years after the fact,\u201d Orwoll told me. \u201cIn 1976, I went hitchhiking across the face of Europe and North Africa because I dropped out of college and I didn\u2019t know what the hell I was going to do on this planet. And this is the end result of those five months on the road.\u201d
 
His past work includes a book about John Wayne \u2013 John Wayne Speaks: The Ultimate John Wayne Quote Book<\/em><\/strong><\/a> \u2013 and Orwoll told me he has another project cooking on Humphrey Bogart.
 
You might recognize Orwoll, a seasoned travel writer, from his more than 75 appearances over the years on NBC\u2019s Today Show<\/em>. Now a semi-retired freelance writer, he contributes to Travel + Leisure<\/em>, the Los Angeles Times<\/em>, Slate Magazine<\/em>, and AARP<\/em>.
 
Orwoll, a musician, is very engaged on the local scene as well.
 
\u201cI was in the very first band actually who played at the Pleasantville Music Festival,\u201d noted Orwoll, who moved to Pleasantville in 1995 with his wife, Kathy Fox, who he married in 1983.
 
He\u2019s been involved with Circle of Friends<\/strong><\/a> at the St. John\u2019s Episcopal Church in Pleasantville for the past quarter century.
 
\u201cWe\u2019ve had open mic nights and we\u2019ve had the more or less performance nights throughout the years,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. And a lot of people worked very hard to make that happen.\u201d
 
I\u2019m excited to dig into Orwoll\u2019s new book. The Amazon summary<\/strong><\/a> notes how the memoir details Orwoll\u2019s adventures hanging out with Beat Generation poets, getting dosed on acid at an illegal rock festival, losing everything he owns to thieves, and decidedly not learning how to ride a camel.
 
\u201cHe would also find his calling in life \u2013 at 4 p.m. on July 17, 1976, over a beer on the terrace of the Caf\u00e9 Select in Montparnasse,\u201d the summary notes. \u201cHarps, trumpets, and cathedralesque sunbeams may have been involved.\u201d
 
But, I asked, what more exactly was his discovery?
 
\u201cI had an epiphany,\u201d he explained between gulps of an IPA. \u201cAnd I know this is going to sound stupid, but it\u2019s true. I had an epiphany. Jesus, why don\u2019t you become a journalist? You like to interview people. You like talking to people. \u200b\u200bYou’re a good writer. This is what you should do.\u201d
 
My sense, in hearing Orwoll describe his book, is that he\u2019s trying to tell us to listen to our guts, to hear our intuition.
 
\u201cThe moral of the story is do believe in yourself,\u201d he told me. \u201cI was very fortunate in that I did not have parents who are forcing me into one career or one lifestyle.\u201d
 
I also couldn\u2019t resist asking him about those psychedelic trips.
 
\u201cThe 1970s were an entirely different world,\u201d the married father of three adult children said. \u201cHowever, I will also add that it made my mind wider, bigger, gave me more of a sense that I will listen, I will accept and be willing to take on new experiences. I\u2019m not going to suggest that you raise your children this way. But I will tell you this: it worked for me.\u201d
 
If that piques your interest, check out Orwoll\u2019s new book right here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Examiner News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Adam Stone, the Examiner News, March 14, 2025 I stopped by Soul Brewing Company in Pleasantville last night to grab a pint with Mark Orwoll, a veteran journalist and author who has published a new memoir, Just One Little Hitch, detailing his hitchhiking adventures across Europe and Morocco in the 1970s. Orwoll brought along a copy of the book, … <\/p>\n

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